


The ones you lean on

by Stardustwrites17



Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Carrying, Collapsing, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Post Season 2, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, The Sparrow Academy (Umbrella Academy), The Umbrella Academy (TV) Season 2 Spoilers, Whumptober 2020, promt 7: carrying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardustwrites17/pseuds/Stardustwrites17
Summary: Klaus was not a fan of space travel. He was especially not a fan of Five doing it and taking them with him without warning.It felt like being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste and being spat out with your bones feeling like play dough....“Five?” With one hand cupping his cheek, Klaus pushed him away to see his face.“You back with us?”Five’s eyes were unfocused and fever bright.He was muttering something under his breath, his eyes fixed downwards....Or:My story "when you can't go on, lean on me" from the siblings' point of view.Check out part 3 of my Whumptober collection!
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953697
Comments: 7
Kudos: 280





	The ones you lean on

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't read part 3, this might be confusing, fair warning.

Klaus was  _ not  _ a fan of space travel. He was especially not a fan of Five doing it and taking them with him without warning. 

It felt like being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste and being spat out with your bones feeling like play dough. 

The only thing he recognized before he began retching was that they were in a parking lot. He spent a few seconds emptying his stomach’s contents on the asphalt before he managed to swallow down any remaining nausea. He moaned something along the lines of “give a warning next time, Five”

Diego was holding part of his hair back, but he was looking somewhere else. 

“Five?”

Klaus straightened up, looking over at the littlest-oldest of the bunch. 

He was hunched over, trembling all over as he took swallow breaths, too close to hyperventilating for Klaus’ comfort.

Then he collapsed forward, but Diego was there to catch him. What followed were a few minutes of retching, delusional mutterings and a whole lot of worry for the siblings as they stared at their youngest member. 

Five finally looked up, his eyes clearing up and horror in his expression before he managed to hide behind a mask of anger. He stood up and stepped away. 

Bad idea, Klaus could see the little color his cheeks had regained disappear to leave him looking almost grey. His eyes were fever bright, his body trembling as he spat out “I’m fine” 

When he collapsed again, it was Klaus who was ready to catch him this time around. 

...

He jumped forward and managed to grab Five’s shoulders as he crumpled. Gently, he lowered him to the ground as the rest of their siblings surrounded them, a few cursing, all talking over each other. 

“What just happened-“

“Holy shit”

“How did he manage to take us all with him-“

“ _ Holy shit” _

“YO, CHILDREN”

_ That  _ managed to get their attention. 

Klaus met his siblings’ eyes, all pale, looking like they might have a meltdown very soon. Frankly, Klaus felt like that too, he probably looked just as shitty as them, but the oldest of the siblings was out of commission and as the second oldest (and wasn’t  _ that  _ weird to think about) he probably needed to assess the situation before any tears or blood were shed. Or both, probably both. 

“Think, when have we seen Five like this before?” 

They all thought about it for a minute, except Vanya who was nodding along like she knew where he was going with this (which was great, because he sure as hell didn’t). 

“Special training” Diego bit out, “he’s overdone it”

“Ding ding ding” Klaus sang, running a hand through Five’s hair. The kid was heating up fast. 

They all had seen Five overdo it. It was never pretty. Nausea, fever, exhaustion, disorientation ( _ and hadn’t  _ that _ been a treat, watching Five look around, terrified of being hurt by his father because he couldn’t jump anymore). _

“We need to get out of here” Allison said ( _ thank God someone else was taking charge because stop-everyone-from-panicking was as far as Klaus had gotten with a plan). _

“Where are we anyway?” Luther asked. 

“Griddy’s parking lot” Diego answered, pointing at the back of the building behind them.

“Where should we go?” Vanya asked, crossing her arms and looking smaller than she already was. 

Behind them, a van honked, trying to get out of the parking spot they were blocking.

They all looked at each other. 

...

And that’s how they got a van for ten dollars. 

Luther was driving, Diego riding shotgun. 

Klaus sat with Allison in the middle seats, Five’s head in her lap and his feet in Klaus’.

Vanya sat in the far back, so quiet Klaus’ forgot she was there until she piped up

“Where are we going?”

Klaus flinched, and at his jostling Five let out a little moan.

“First we’re getting some money,” Luther said. The siblings looked at each other.

“Care to elaborate on that, Lu?” Klaus forced his voice not to waver, to keep up the cheery tone. The adrenaline was fading, his eyes were starting to feel heavy, his head spinning with millions of thoughts. 

_ Ben. _

He shook his head, not now. 

Luther opened his mouth to answer, but something caught his eye and he parked the car. He pointed at an ATM, as if that answered all of their answers. It didn’t. 

...

They stayed silent as they watched Luther grab his wallet. Klaus considered himself an expert in all 60s things, and he didn’t remember credit cards being a thing. 

He got distracted though, when Five shifted. 

He looked worse, if that was possible. 

His cheeks were flushed, his bangs, stuck to his forehead, were slick with sweat, the darkness of his locks only helped in highlighting just how pale he was. He trembled all over, but Klaus could see beads of sweat in his forehead. 

“The fever’s getting worse,” Allison said, pushing Five’s bangs back. 

“Now that we’re still, let’s get him out of that blazer, get him to cool down” 

It wasn’t much, but staying still was driving Klaus crazy.

With Allison’s help, he got Five to sit up, his forehead resting against his chest. When Allison began taking off his jacket he only shivered once before staying still. They took off his tie and shirt too, leaving him in an undershirt. 

As Allison folded the clothes and gave them to Vanya, Klaus felt Five mutter something against his collarbone. 

“Five?” With one hand cupping his cheek, Klaus pushed him away to see his face.

“You back with us?” 

Five’s eyes were unfocused and fever bright.

He was muttering something under his breath, his eyes fixed downwards.

Klaus strained his hearing and finally made sense of the words. 

“- _ Two Four Six One Seven Three Six Four Two Seven One…” _

Before Klaus could say anything, before he could swallow down the lump in his throat, Five’s eyes closed again, and he slumped forward against his chest once again. Klaus said nothing, just brought him closer, cupping the back of his head with one hand and pulling him into his lap completely.

...

When Luther got back they were back to how they had started, with Five laying across both of them. 

Luther looked back at them and grinned. He raised his hand, which was full of cash.

Klaus only had time to think  _ oh my god Luther robbed somebody,  _ when Luther explained.

“Dad’s credit card” he patted his wallet, looking very proud of himself, “I kept it in my wallet in 1963, thought maybe… I don’t know, the thing is Dad used the same code and company in this timeline” he grinned harder, “old dog can’t learn new tricks, I guess” 

They all fell silent. Then-

“Luther you goddamn genius” Diego cackled, looking positively mad with glee, “how much-“

“900 dollars,” he put on his seatbelt, “we need to leave, they’ll look for us after using that ATM”

And so they left, laughing incredulously and half delirious with tiredness and shock. Five continued to sleep, and if between all the laughing Klaus choked on a sob because he had expected for a moment to hear Ben making a snarky comment, that wasn’t anyone’s business but his. 

...

They stopped before leaving the city for good in a dollar store. Allison, Luther and Klaus went together to buy necessities, leaving Vanya and Diego alone with Five. Diego sat on Allison’s seat, watching Five as he mumbled something and moved his eyes from side to side behind his eyelids. His heart jumped into his throat when Five gasped and shot up into a sitting position, chest heaving and eyes unseeing even as he looked around frantically, fear and panic clouding his green eyes. 

Vanya called Five’s name, she sounded like she wanted to cry.

“Five, you’re fine, relax” Diego kept his voice calm, hoping to sound soothing, which wasn’t really his style. 

Five’s fever bright eyes locked on him.

“D’go” his words were slurred, “don’t l’t dad c’tch ‘s” 

Oh jeez. Damn it, Five. He cleared his throat, jaw tense as he pushed Five down into the seat once more. Five let him, which showed him how truly out of it he was. 

Or maybe he really  _ did  _ trust him to keep them all safe.

“I won't,” he promised. Five sighed and closed his eyes again. 

Vanya stayed silent, but her hand landed on his shoulder. He grabbed it with the hand that wasn’t resting on Five’s forehead. 

His smallest, most powerful siblings, and  _ he  _ was responsible for protecting them. 

“I won’t let dad-“ he was looking at Vanya when his voice broke. She squeezed his shoulder, and he grabbed her hand tighter in response. 

“I know” 

Her smile was small, her eyes were red, but she sounded sincere and trusting, like when they were little and he promised her every night that no monster would ever hurt her, real or imaginary. 

And he intended to keep that promise, whatever the cost. 

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know what this is, but I'm bored and sick and I did my best, so be kind please.


End file.
